Have you seen the latest updates from Ancestry yet? I heard Crista Cowan say on a video last week that it currently takes a full six months to roll out updates to all members. I had waited a good 2-3 months before I finally started seeing the changes in my own Ancestry profile last week. (Some of these tools may require the Ancestry ProTools, an extra monthly subscription.)
If you use the Ancestry Hints system, you will notice a big change to the look and feel of the experience. In addition to a visually cleaner interface, you will see:
- a persistent side panel that show the family group details
- side by side comparison of records to the family group
- workflow adjustments for accepting or ignoring hints
- a new look that is cleaner allows easier navigation
Here is what you can expect from the new look. Notice the records on the left and the family group on the right. I like that the number of hints is highlighted at the top in green and that I can always see the family members and their vitals.
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| click image to view larger |
Aimee Cross shared a video walkthrough of the new hint tool recently. You can view her video here: Ancestry's NEW Hint Tool Changes Everything!
I was even more impatient to see the changes to the DNA tools. I finally got those at the end of last week. I don't know what all they have done "under the hood," but I can actually use AncestryDNA on my tablet now. Load times had gotten so slow as to render it unusable. I appreciate that is is getting faster now. I did notice as the system transition happened that things got so slow that they didn't load at all. Closing my Chrome browser and restarting seemed to be the cure to that. Once I dealt with Chrome, I was successful in finding and using the new tools.
The tools that I use the most, DNA Matches, Shared Matches of Matches, and ThruLines have all figured in this update. Several changes happened that help strengthen the predicted relation level between matches. This has made some improvements in finding distant matches and in viewing DNA cousins right from the tree.
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| Note the "add DNA" text in blue on my 2nd Great Grandmother's profile. |
Clicking on the blue text produces a side bar that shows DNA cousins grouped under each of her children(with DNA testers matching me). Clicking the downward arrow beside any of the children will show you the DNA descendants that share DNA with you. Note that I have seven of these matches in my tree already. I have the potential to add 23 more after I verify them. (This is ThruLines2.0 after all. Verify before trusting. Check for presence of records and quality of records.)
Ancestry has also improved how they calculate relationships looking at factors other than just amount of shared DNA. They are taking into consideration the variables such as number and lenght of segments, and relative ages of the two matches as well.
Connie Knox has prepared two videos in the last week that provide an overview and tour of many of the new ThruLines and Relationship Predictor changes. You can watch these at your own pace, and start and stop as needed.
- AncestryDNA's New ThruLines & Family Tree Views (August 2026)
- You may want to skip the tree building from 12:12-18:20 the first time around. This was live and Connie says that she would redo that part for clarity.
All in all, these are nice changes that are taking our DNA Cousin research in a positive direction. I hope you enjoy trying these tools.
Visit Wake County Genealogical Society's Website - Homepage | WCGS Events | Join WCGS | Publications | Wake Cemetery Survey Images | Society Surnames | Digital Resources | History Resources | More Links and Resources | Donate | Contact - info(at)wakecogen(dot)org
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